Season 2 of The Last of Us has been coming for a long time. After a two-year wait, it’s finally here, and fans can’t get enough. The show is based on the best-selling PlayStation game and is set in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a mutated Cordyceps virus that turns humans into mindless, infected creatures.

Season 1 introduces us to Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl named Ellie out of a militarized quarantine zone and across the country to the Fireflies, a rebel group searching for a cure. Ellie is immune to the virus and may be humanity’s last hope, but when Joel learns that creating a cure would mean sacrificing Ellie’s life, he kills everyone at the hospital and escapes with her.

Abby Wants Joel Dead

Episode 1 of Season 2 of the highly anticipated The Last of Us begins with Joel swearing to Ellie that everything he told her about the Fireflies is true, down to the last detail. Next, we see a group of people gathered to bury their friends. One of them suggests they should head to Seattle, as he knows someone there who would be happy to offer them shelter and food.

However, Abby insists they must find Joel and make him pay for what he did. If you’re new to the show, this references back to the Season 1 finale of The Last of Us, where Joel killed dozens of people at the Firefly hospital to save Ellie. One of them happened to be Abby’s father. Now, Abby is hell-bent on finding Joel so she can torture him and kill him slowly.

Joel & Ellie are in Jackson

 At this point, the episode jumps ahead five years, taking us to Jackson, Wyoming, where Joel and Ellie now live with Tommy and a group of other survivors. Ellie is undergoing martial arts training and frequently goes out on sniping missions to eliminate the infected. However, it becomes clear that there’s some tension between her and Joel. Joel assumes it's because of their age difference and wants to make things right. Hoping to understand Ellie better, he asks Dina, Ellie’s best friend, for advice, but she’s just as unsure about what’s bothering Ellie.

Meanwhile, the settlement is struggling with overcrowding. They open the gates frequently to let in new survivors, and as a result, they’re running out of space and resources. When Maria brings this issue up to Joel and says they need to expand quickly, Joel suggests maybe it's time to stop letting everyone in. Joel also excuses himself to visit his therapist, Gale, a secret he’s been keeping from everyone, but before he leaves the room, Maria reminds him that he was once a stray too, and they chose to open their gates for him.

Joel’s therapy sessions with Gale grow tense. It’s revealed that Gale is the wife of Eugene, the man Joel had to kill back in Season 1. Though Gale admits she understands Joel had no choice, she also confesses that forgiveness is something she can’t offer, no matter how hard she tries. Still, despite the pain, Gale is genuinely concerned for Joel’s well-being. She tells him she wants to help, but only if he’s willing to finally open up and share what he’s been hiding.

A New Strain of Zombies

In the next scene, Ellie heads out on a recon patrol with Dina and Jesse. While on their route, they discover a trail of blood that leads them to the marketplace, where they find a group of infected surrounding the carcass of a dead grizzly bear. Ellie and Dina enter the building to clear out any infected that might be hiding inside. That’s when they come face to face with a new strain of infected that is much faster, more agile, and noticeably more intelligent than any they’ve encountered before. Ellie manages to kill it, but not before it bites her.

Fortunately, Ellie is immune and doesn’t turn. Later, she recounts the same incident to the settlement council and mentions the new type of infection, while carefully leaving out the part about being bitten. With just a few hours left until the New Year, the council wraps up after covering a few final matters.

Trouble at the New Year's Party

Joel visits Ellie in the garage while she’s journaling, hoping to connect with her, but their conversation falls flat. To avoid the growing awkwardness, Joel picks up her guitar and says it needs new strings. At the New Year’s party, Ellie can't keep her eyes off Dina, making it clear she’s had feelings for her for a while.

The two share a brief, intimate kiss, only to be interrupted by a man who hurls a slur at them. Joel immediately shoves the man and tells him to leave. Instead of being grateful, Ellie snaps at Joel and tells him she can take care of herself and doesn’t need him stepping in to protect her every time something goes wrong.

As Episode 1 of The Last of Us Season 2 comes to a close, a few ominous signs suggest danger is just around the corner. We see strange behavior from the roots of the infected—they seem to react to a sparkler dropped nearby, possibly hinting that noise or light could trigger a horde. And finally, we cut to Abby and her group—heavily armed and closing in on the settlement, hell-bent on finding Joel.